Unpinning: how a pinned piece gets free again

In short

A bishop pins your knight to your queen. As long as that stays so, the knight is tied down, and your opponent can keep attacking it. Nimzowitsch distinguishes two situations: the opening and tactical moments in the middle of a fight. The first way in the opening, questioning, is explained in an article of its own.

The second way: you allow the threat, even if your opponent can break open the pawns in front of your king. According to Nimzowitsch, this is only allowed if you can become active in the center. After all, the best answer to an attack on the wing is a counter-attack in the center.

The third way is peaceful: more pieces hurry over until the pin can be broken without risk. That takes time. So Nimzowitsch only allows such maneuvers if your own center is firm.

The fourth way is the hardest: you wait and keep all three ways open. Nimzowitsch shows it with a casual game against Capablanca, which he lost himself. Capablanca broke the pin only at the right moment and reached an advantageous endgame. According to Nimzowitsch, modern players sometimes put up with a pin for longer instead of shaking it off at once.

Start with lesson 13: there you attack a pinned piece before your opponent can free it. After that, the game Rubinstein – Nimzowitsch shows you how both sides fight over pinning and unpinning.

Summarized by the editors in their own words. This is not a quotation.

In the middle of the fight: corridor and alliance

In tactical moments, unpinning looks different. Nimzowitsch calls the squares between the three pieces of a pin corridors. If you put a protected piece into a corridor, the pin is lifted. You can also move the piece behind out of the line.

If the piece behind is not too valuable, it is sometimes enough to protect it well. Then the pinned piece, the piece behind and its protector hold together. Nimzowitsch speaks of a union of the threatened pieces.

Rubinstein – Nimzowitsch: free at the right moment

With 20.Kf2, White wants to free the pinned knight on e3 with f3–f4. Nimzowitsch answers with 20… f5 and threatens f5–f4 himself. The knight can no longer get free and falls a little later.

Later White pins: the rook on b1 ties the black knight on b4 to the queen on b7. Nimzowitsch does not break this pin at once, because White cannot get any advantage from it. First his rook collects two pawns, then he frees himself with 30… Qa6.

Today’s view

Today, too, with every pin you first ask: what do I lose if I do nothing? If the answer is “nothing”, you may calmly carry on with your plan, as Nimzowitsch shows against Rubinstein.

But keep an eye on the pinned piece. A pawn attack or one more piece aimed at it can quickly turn a harmless pin into a dangerous one.

Where to find it in Nimzowitsch

• My System: I. Teil, 7.3 Das Problem der Entfesselung original text not yet published

  Introduction to unpinning: a simple pin in the opening and the many possible answers to it.

• My System: I. Teil, 7.3b Das Ignorieren der Drohung bzw. die Zulassung der Aufreißung original text not yet published

  Accepting the threat and letting the kingside be broken open, if you can become active in the center.

• My System: I. Teil, 7.3c Die Reserven eilen herbei, um die Entfesselung auf friedlichem Wege zu erreichen original text not yet published

  Peaceful unpinning with reserves hurrying over, only with a firm center.

• My System: I. Teil, 7.3d Lavieren und sich a, b, c vorbehalten original text not yet published

  Waiting and keeping all ways open, with Nimzowitsch’s loss to Capablanca and the corridors in tactical moments.

• My System: I. Teil, Kleines Schema zur Fesselung original text not yet published

  A short overview of all ways of unpinning in the opening and in tactical moments.

• My System: I. Teil, Partien zur Fesselung original text not yet published

  Games on the pin, among them Rubinstein – Nimzowitsch with pins and unpinnings on both sides.

In the course

• A piece that cannot move
• Rubinstein – Nimzowitsch, Marienbad 1925